6 JAPANESE FROGS SPACEBOUND

The first Japanese in space will be accompanied by six green frogs when he blasts off aboard a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft Dec. 2.

Toyohiro Akiyama, 48, a televison reporter from the private Tokyo Broadcasting System, will observe how the Japanese frogs behave in a weightless environment on the Soviet space station Mir, a TBS spokesman said Tuesday.The experiment conducted by the first journalist in space will be beamed live on the TBS network.